Thrifty Bits: Raging over Gears 3 DLC, iOS updates

Today’s installment of Thrifty Bits finds us surrounded by a new horde of horde, dicey drivers crashing computers and a room full of people still waiting for that “one more thing.”

Epic Games unveiled the first installment of Gears of War 3 DLC, the Horde Command Pack, today. The pack includes three new horde mode friendly maps, three new playable characters, two news weapon skins, new fortification upgrades and 250 additional achievement points. Gears of War 3 Season Pass holders will receive this free of charge, while the pay-as-you-go crowd will have to shell out 800 Microsoft Points. Major Nelson has all of the details broken down on his blog.

While console gamers celebrated new content, their PC gaming compatriots have been fighting the good fight with id Software’s newest release, Rage. It seems that the uber-textures touted by the creators are wreaking havoc on unsuspecting video card drivers. Bethesda is currently working with Nvidia and AMD to solve the driver issues as soon as possible and is advising consumers to keep an eye on the Bethesda Blog according to Joystiq.

On the heels of Steve Jobs’ departure from the company, Apple’s latest keynote failed to excite the bleeding edge crowd. Most of the event was dedicated to what the new iOS operating system would do for the platform as a whole, rather than the individual hardware components. The new iPhone was unveiled towards the end of the keynote. The iPhone 4s, as it is called, will have a faster processor, improved camera and Siri functionality were briefly detailed. The Siri integration maybe the biggest addition to the phone. Siri enables users to send messages, make calls, add calendar items and more with natural spoken commands. Other notable announcements include the addition of Sprint to the list of mobile carriers that will be offering the iPhone, as well as the availability of the iPhone 3GS as a free with contract option. A full video of the keynote is available; but the crew at Tecca have an in-depth breakdown of the entire briefing for those that would like to invest those 90 minutes somewhere else.